MEMPHIS, Tenn. – After the detention of an 18-year-old high school student after a Memphis Police traffic stop last month, FOX13 Investigates is looking for answers for whether or not MPD is helping ICE with its operations.

In late January, Mayor Paul Young posted a video to social media, where he said in part, “I want to clarify. Yes, they have worked with the City of Memphis on addressing violent crime through the MSTF, but I want to be very clear—there has been no collaboration with ICE on immigration.”

It was a response to comments by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the cooperation between Memphis leaders and federal agents.

Jay Fearnley, attorney for Yasser Lopez, said his client disputes the claims made by Young.

“All of this just seems particularly excessive. And it seems like, you know, on paper, we’re focused on getting criminals out of the United States, but Yasser Lopez is not a criminal,” said Fearnley when he spoke with FOX13 Tuesday.

He said Lopez remains in custody almost one month later. Mauricio Calvo, president of Latino Memphis, said he’s still questioning the circumstances of Lopez’s detention.

“When the mayor continues to say publicly is that he’s directing the task force towards, you know, real crime; I think he needs to explain how did this happen, right? I understand that the mayor didn’t specifically make this arrest, but at the end of the day, the buck stops there,” Calvo told FOX13.

He said multiple people have shown up to his organization with similar stories, stating Memphis Police contacted ICE after traffic stops.

Immigration attorney Andrew Rankin said the same. “They’re just simply not matching up with what attorneys are seeing on the ground,” he told FOX13. “These are things I’ve seen in real cases with real people.”

FOX13 previously asked the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office whether or not they are active with the ongoing ICE operations.

A spokesperson said, “The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office does not participate in active enforcement operations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to locate or apprehend offenders. However, consistent with state law, we notify ICE of people coming into the jail who state that they were not born in the United States and hold them if ICE desires to pick them up.”

The Memphis Police Department has still not provided an answer.

“I think city leadership and MPD leadership need to just tell the public what we already know is happening, but for some reason, they just want, in a detailed fashion, lay out what is happening,” said Rankin.

A spokesperson for the City of Memphis told FOX13 they are looking into this situation and will have a response at a later time.